The three-story, 58,000-sf Pennovation Center, as it’s being called, will be at the heart of Pennovation Works, a blend of offices, labs, and production spaces situated within 23 acres along the Schuykill River and adjacent to the university’s main campus in Philadelphia. Renderings courtesy HWKN

Recent from Building Team

The three-story, 58,000-sf Pennovation Center, as it’s being called, will be at the heart of Pennovation Works, a blend of offices, labs, and production spaces situated within 23 acres along the Schuykill River and adjacent to the university’s main campus in Philadelphia. Renderings courtesy HWKN

BD+C Events

Recent Blogs

Eight years into the transformation of an elevated section of New York Central Railroad’s West Side Line into a public park, the $273 million project is being hailed as a resounding win for the city. Photo: Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons

Constructed in the 1960s when enrollment at Muhlenberg College was 1,200 students, the 66,000-sf Seegers Student Union reflected the English and German architecture traditions incorporated in other buildings on campus. Despite being outdated and undersized, the campus center hosted 3,300 guests per day.

In 2009, the college chose to renovate and expand the facility by 30,000 sf to centralize its Student Life and Student Organization offices, expand informal social space, and develop a 600-seat dining facility. The dining room is the hearthstone, a focal point visible even from the opposite end of the building. The Light Lounge serves as an active living room, while an outdoor terrace overlooking Brown Mall rounds out the new amenities of the structure. The Seegers Student Union completes a new quadrangle on the campus, providing students with an important connection to the outdoors.

Seegers Student Union, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa.

Flooring Tile: Mirage Granito Ceramico

Flooring Carpet: Gt058 Parkway, Lees

Flooring Linoleum: Optma Open Plan, Armstrong

Wood Interior Trim: Eucalyptus

Wood Columns: Somerset

Roofing Wood Decking: Loc-Dek Douglas Fir

Roofing Asphalt Shingles: Timberline, Gas Elk

HVAC Systems: Annexair

Insulation/ICFs: BASF Walltile

Cork Wall Tile: Globus

Ceramic Wall Tile: Oceanside Glasstile

Paints: Sherwin-Williams

Coliing Metal Drapery: Cascade Coil

Building Envelope Brick: Bowerston

Building Envelope Curtain Wall: Tublite

Plumbing Fixtures: Toto

Designs for the new facility benefited from feedback from focus groups and informal discussions with students, staff, and faculty.

“They took a shell of a building and crafted it into something much more pleasant,” said BD+C Reconstruction Awards Judge Walker Johnson, FAIA.

Search form

Commentary

Eight years into the transformation of an elevated section of New York Central Railroad’s West Side Line into a public park, the $273 million project is being hailed as a resounding win for the city. Photo: Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons

Trending Articles

The three-story, 58,000-sf Pennovation Center, as it’s being called, will be at the heart of Pennovation Works, a blend of offices, labs, and production spaces situated within 23 acres along the Schuykill River and adjacent to the university’s main campus in Philadelphia. Renderings courtesy HWKN

Eight years into the transformation of an elevated section of New York Central Railroad’s West Side Line into a public park, the $273 million project is being hailed as a resounding win for the city. Photo: Beyond My Ken via Wikimedia Commons

This rendering shows the inside of the proposed Charleston South building looking west. Within the canopy, building segments operate like furniture—light, tactile and reconfigurable. These segments form small villages where employees can work or relax. Renderings courtesy Google, BIG, Thomas Heatherwick